August 18, 2015

It’s unacceptable that Nova Scotia Business Inc (NSBI) is refusing to answer questions from media about the “impact of downsized film incentives,” says Marian Mancini, NDP critic for the Film and Television Incentive Production fund.

She made the comments after CBC reported the production Jesse Stone, starring Tom Selleck, is threatening to leave Nova Scotia due to uncertainty caused by the slashing of the film tax credit. When contacted by CBC, NSBI, the crown corporation put in charge of the film tax credit by the McNeil government, would not comment.

Mancini says by refusing to explain changes to the film tax credit the McNeil government is making a terrible situation much worse.

“I was on the set of Mr. D this morning and I can tell you people working in our screen industry are very concerned about what the future holds,” says Mancini. “First the McNeil government slashed funding for our screen industry without any prior consultation and now they are refusing to answer questions about how the new credit will work. This is a recipe for disaster in an industry that just six months ago was worth $150 million and accounted for more than 2,700 jobs.”

She added, “This isn’t the first time the Liberals have prevented NSBI from answering questions. In May the NDP Caucus requested NSBI CEO Laurel Broten appear at the Legislature’s all-party standing committee on public accounts to explain how the new fund works and the Liberal majority voted the motion down. I know that this has been a bad issue for the Liberals but they are mistaken if they think refusing to talk about it will make it go away.”